The Cartoon Force Episode 7: The Regeneration
by randy1317
Summary: All the heroes are enjoying a winter's day, except Ike. Derpy goes to look for him, and finds out that the power inside of him will soon regenerate. Now, Ike must deal with the outcomes of this, and the Cartoon Force may never be the sam again.


"Hey Jenny, heads up!" Phineas yelled as he threw a snowball at the humanoid robot.

Jenny turned around and was instantly smacked in the face with the snowball. Phineas fell to the ground laughing. Jenny wiped the snow from her face and threw a snowball back at Phineas, which hit him clean in the face. Both he and Jenny had a good laugh about it, though.

This was the scene on a winter day in Arkville. The night prior, there had been a small blizzard, which caused about a foot of snow to fall. All the heroes took advantage of this opportunity and were spending most of the day in the snow. Phineas and Jenny had convinced Batman, Rainbow Dash, Ferb, Sonic, Freakazoid, and Applejack to have an all out snowball war, with four people on each team. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were attempting to build a snowman, and Derpy was making snow angels, which unfortunately for her, didn't come out as she planned.

They were all having a good time until Rarity brought up something.

"Excuse me everyone! But where is Ike?"

All the heroes looked around but saw no sign of Ike anywhere.

"He's not in the HQ" Batman said. "I wonder where he could've gone? Derpy, would you mind going out to look for him?"

Derpy put her hoof to her head in a salute.

"Yes, sir! I'll be back with Ike sooner than you can say 'muffins'!"

She flew up into the sky and went to search for Ike.

Rainbow Dash walked over to Batman.

"Are you sure you want to send Derpy to go look for Ike? This is the pony that flew north to bring back southern birds one year. Do you really think she can find him?"

"I've seen how close those two have become over the past month" Batman replied. "She's starting to look up to him as a brother, you know. I don't think she'll have much trouble finding him".

Rainbow shrugged and went back to join the snowball war.

* * *

><p>Derpy had been flying for about ten minutes when she finally caught a glimpse of Ike. He was sitting alone under a tree near the river, skipping rocks across the surface of the water. Derpy flew down and sat down next to him.<p>

"Hey, Ike! Watcha doing all alone here by yourself? Everyone's wondering where you are. Is something wrong?"

Ike looked at Derpy and smiled. He rustled her mane and said,

"Oh, Derpy. Did I ever tell you the story of how I got my powers?"

Derpy looked at him with big eyes and shook her head.

"Well, it all started like this:"

Ike explained his whole backstory to Derpy. He said that many years ago the town he was living in was destroyed, and he was badly injured. Luckily for him, a scientist found him and took him to a secluded laboratory, where he used a specially designed formula to heal Ike and return his health to normal.

However, in the process, it gave Ike his special power; the power that enabled him to use his own aura of energy as a weapon. But another side effect of the power of the formula was that it slowed down Ike's aging. He would now age one year for every ten normal years. Therefore, he may have the appearance of a teenager, but in reality is over a hundred years old!

Derpy's eyes widened as Ike told his story. She was amazed, but still a little confused.

"So, wait. How does this explain why you're sitting all alone again?"

Ike sighed deeply and stared at the icy water.

"When I first got my powers, the scientist warned me that in exactly a hundred years from that date, the power inside me would have to regenerate. The reason I'm all alone is because today is because I'm nervous. I didn't want anyone to see me like this. Today is the one hundredth anniversary of the day I got my powers".

Derpy began to get worried.

"What does that mean? What's going to happen to you? Are you going to...die?"

Ike put his arm around Derpy, consoling her.

"Don't worry, Derpy. I'm not going to die. I'm going to be fine. You and me and all the others will still be together as the Cartoon Force. Its just..."

He looked out at the water once again.

"I'm going to lose my powers and my memory" he said sadly.

Derpy stood up in shock.

"Wha...what? You mean you're not going to remember me? Any of us? Anything? How long will this regeneration thingy last?"

"I'm not sure" Ike told her. "Could be a day, could be a month, could be forever. I just don't know".

Derpy nuzzled Ike's shoulder and began to get teary-eyed. Ike hugged her and told her that everything was going to be alright.

"How will you know when it begins?" Derpy sniffled.

Ike looked down at his hand and saw a white aura begin to emerge from it. He knew it wasn't his energy aura; that was blue.

"It's already started" he sighed.

He picked up Derpy and began to walk back to where the heroes were.

"We need to get back to the HQ before it happens. I need to say my goodbyes to everyone".

Derpy looked up at him with tears in her eyes, and saw that he was getting teary-eyed himself.

When they were about three quarters of the way there, Ike began to get weaker, and he fell to the ground in pain. Derpy told him to get on her back. He did so, and even though he was a little heavy for her, Derpy was content on getting him back.

* * *

><p>Once they were almost there, the heroes saw them and ran over to see what had happened.<p>

"Derpy, what's wrong with Ike?" Twilight said worriedly.

Catching her breath, she explained what Ike had told her: about how his power was regenerating.

"Isn't there somethin' we can do for him? Applejack asked.

Derpy shook her head sadly. The heroes now began to feel sorrow for their friend.

Ike, now very weak, stood up very slowly. He looked around at the other heroes and smiled.

"Guys, before it happens I just want you all to know that you were all the best friends I could've ever asked for. The best times of my life have come being in the Cartoon Force. Don't be sad, I'm not going anywhere. I may not have my memory, but it will still be me. It'll still be Ike. I don't know how long this will last, but I want you all to know something. You guys are my family. I love you all. Never forget that".

By this time, all the ponies and Jenny were crying, and Freakazoid and Phineas wiped a tear from their eyes.

The white aura began to emerge from Ike again, this time stronger and all over his body.

"I guess it's time" Ike said reluctantly as he looked at the aura emerging from him.

With tears in his eyes he smirked, turned back to the heroes and said,

"Thanks guys. For everything".

The others smiled back. Finally, Ike gave a small two-finger salute and a white flash exploded from his body. The heroes covered their eyes to block the blinding light, which lasted about ten seconds. After it subsided, Ike fell to the ground.

The heroes ran over and tried to wake him up. After a few seconds, he came to and looked around, confused.

"Could you all tell me where I am? And for that matter, who I am?"

Batman helped him up and told him,

"Don't worry, we have the answer for any question you may have".

They led him inside as he responded,

"Oh, thank god. I'm just so confused right now!"

As the walked inside, Derpy stayed behind. Sonic saw her and said,

"Hey, Derpy? Are you coming inside?"

"Yeah, I'll be in in a sec" she said, faking a smile.

Sonic saw through it and walked over to her.

"You already miss him, don't you?" he said.

Derpy looked up, still teary-eyed, and nodded.

"I don't want this to last forever" she said. "I want the old Ike back".

Sonic put his arm around her.

"Me too, Derpy. Me too. But for now we just have to hope for the best. Remember, he's still Ike, memory or no memory".

Derpy looked up at Sonic and gave a slight smile.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Derpy said. "This may be my chance to introduce Ike to my famous muffins again!"

She ran inside and Sonic followed after her, chuckling.


End file.
